FORENSIC SCIENCE BACKGROUND INFORMATION

FORENSIC SCIENCE PROJECT

Forensic Science is a science devoted to the using scientific methods and procedures to gather objective information which will be used to help solve a crime. During this unit you will learn many different procedures that can be utilized to help collect evidence at a crime scene. While the procedures of forensic science can be useful in solving a crime, it is important to remember the role of forensic science in the overall process of finding the guilty suspect.

There may be many suspects in a criminal investigation. To find the guilty suspect, an investigator must ensure that the following three criteria have been met:

Motive

Reason(s) why the crime was committed. Some possible motives are passion, jealousy, greed and revenge. Motive is usually determined through interviews and research

Opportunity

Being able to place the suspect at the scene of the crime, or in a position to be able to commit the crime

Means

Being able to establish through evidence that the suspect was able to commit the crime.

To assist the investigator in finding the suspect that meets all three of the above criteria, the forensic investigator has an important role (in some instances, the investigator and the forensic investigator may be the same person). It is important that at a crime scene every effort is made to secure the site so that evidence is not destroyed or altered. The investigator(s) could take photographs and collect fingerprints and samples such as hair, fibers, blood, soil and/or foreign objects from the crime scene and suspects.

The job of the forensic investigator will be to use science and technology to perform tests on the evidence collected. The results from these tests can then be used in support of an investigators theory of who is the guilty suspect.

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